Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

“Call it a business card, a resume, a billboard, or whatever you choose, but the short of it is that books are no longer just books. They are branding devices and credibility signals.To lovers of books, I’m sure this will all sound like bad news. But to non-fiction authors, it’s a reality. In some ways, it’s also a bit of a relief and an opportunity. No one is asking you to write the Great American Novel. Nor do you need to sell a million copies. You just need to own and present an interesting idea to the right people.”

AN : so what is a book for ? Leveraging an author’s reputation for monetary purposes ? To attract speaking engagements ? To bolster your personal brand ? There will be many motivations to write ( non-fiction category ) a book but should there not be a core value attached to the book , ie have something of value to say to your reading audience and a permanent mode to record and convey the communication piece?

Interesting to see the way publishing has changed and how the bundle of rights to literature creativity has evolved to the extent that e-books are at the edge of the wave now. From AK Rowling to the aspirant…good article to read in full.

“The ability to publish and sell directly to readers, however, is far from unique — as we have written about a number of times here at GigaOM. Amanda Hocking is the most obvious example of what can happen when even an “undiscovered” author decides to do direct: after making an estimated $2 million or so in less than a year by selling her own e-books via the Kindle publishing platform, Hocking was signed to a $2-million publishing deal. Some other authors, meanwhile, have gone in the opposite direction, turning down traditional publishing deals in order to sell direct to their readers.

J.K. Rowling may have only just discovered the virtues of e-books, and the benefits of selling directly to readers, but there is a whole generation of young authors who are looking to Amanda Hocking and other authors like million-selling writer John Locke as models for a new way of publishing — and the shockwaves of that disruption are only just beginning to be felt in the traditional publishing industry.”